Linda Squared

I have a wonderful friend, who is such a creative, thoughtful writer. I love receiving her thought-provoking email bursts – she always leaves me reflecting on God, myself and life.

This is one of my favourites:

Dear Ones,

F.B.Meyer said: “The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.” Sometimes I act as if God can “only handle so much” and I do not want to overburden Him with lots of requests. Or…I think that He is tired of me praying about the same issue. Both of these ideas come when I unconsciously picture God with the limitations of power and patience that I have. (If that were the case, we are all in deep trouble!)

Feel free to pepper God with lots of questions and requests. His well of loving power is deep, and His shoulders are broad.

Thank you, Linda #1…for making me mindful of my prayer life.

I have another wonderful friend, who often tells me that she talks with God throughout the day – when she’s driving, when she’s cooking, when she’s cleaning. She loves to pray out loud and she loves to pray for others. She starts and ends her day conversing with Jesus and she’s been doing this for years. She can’t imagine a day without constant prayer.

Thank you, Linda #2…for being such a wonderful model of a praying woman.

I start my day by rolling out of bed and onto the floor, where I lie on a strange- shaped pillow for ten minutes to stretch out my upper back – I am prone to back spasms and this time of stretching seems to alleviate the occurrence. Here are ten minutes that I am forced to stop and lie on my back in an awkwardly arched position – so I pray. However, once I get off that pillow, I’m on the move.

Martin Luther once said, “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” – I read these words for the first time, many years ago and I was overwhelmed with my insufficiency. Three hours of prayer, first thing in the morning? Whoa…I can’t imagine sitting that long! In the past, I’ve participated in organized half days of prayer, prayer retreats and prayer meetings but it hasn’t taken long for me to start fidgeting. Prayer walks have worked for me but sitting and praying for long periods of time have always been difficult. I found myself opening my eyes and looking around, checking my watch and watching people pray – I’m not proud of this but it is the reality of my prayer history.

I’m not saying that I never stop, kneel and pray – I do – I often kneel at the side of my bed and talk to God because I like that position of surrender but most definitely, my prayer life is more vibrant when I’m moving – that’s just the way I am.

I greatly appreciate John Ortberg Jr.’s perspective in his book, “The Me I Want To Be: Becoming God’s Best Version of You, when he writes, “The goal of prayer is to live all of my life and speak all of my words in the joyful awareness of the presence of God. Prayer becomes real when we grasp the reality and goodness of God’s constant presence with ‘the real me.’ Jesus lived his everyday life in conscious awareness of his Father.”

The truth is that God is constantly present – whether I’m driving, cycling, running, cooking, tutoring, speaking or writing – whether I’m sitting or standing – and my desire is to be in constant communication with Him. It’s not talking to God that is difficult for me, it’s sitting and praying.

This is who I am and this is how I pray. I’m thankful for my Linda friends who have encouraged me and modeled the importance of being myself before the One who created me this way.

Thank you again and again for speaking into my Spirit.
I have been around Godly women, who love life and are fun to be with, “not so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good!”, but they talk to Jesus all day, just as a way of living. My baby sister is one of them. I have 2 other friends both very intelligent gals,missionaries ,who love artistic works and anything with historical value, and they will pray over that item, all part of our conversation, that GOD WOULD BE LIFTED UP, AND SATAN BOUND. (sorry caps!).You have caused me to reflect on the influence they have made on my life, and I thank God for them.

All my Christian life, i have desired the fellowship of walking arm in arm with Jesus, throughout every day, but that is easier said than done as it takes work , and purposeful disciplines. Not my strength, for sure. I just surrendered myself again this morning, at the foot of the Cross, (is their any other place to go?) to allow God to build in me that discipline, to see everything through His eyes, and talk to Him about what is happening or concerns on my heart. Am I making any Sense???

Well, I opened my Bible to the inside page, as I had written a few years ago the lyrics of a song, that represented my heartfelt desire to be all that Jesus intended me to be. Thank you again Diane. Hope you love this song as I do. I often sing it to the Lord when no one is around!!

One Day Jesus Will Call My Name
By Phil McHugh

Verse 1
Some days drag and some days fly
And some days I think of the day I’ll die
Some days fill me and some days drain
And one day Jesus will call my name

Chorus
One day Jesus will call my name
As days go by, ‘hope I don’t stay the same.
I wanna get so close to Him that it’s no big change,
On that day that Jesus calls my name!

Verse 2
Most days I pray, but some days I curse.
A said number of days I put myself first.
But it’s not what I do, the cross made that plain.
And one day Jesus will call my name!

Chorus
One day Jesus will call my name
As days go by, ‘hope I don’t stay the same.
I wanna get so close to Him that it’s no big change,
On that day that Jesus calls my name!